Technology Safety

District Guidelines for Use of Computer Technology, the Internet, and District Networks

Users may use only those computer accesses authorized by the District.

Students will receive training in use of the Internet and a review of these rules and guidelines. Students must be trained prior to using the Internet.

Users should be aware that the Internet is not guaranteed to be private. Students should always have a specific Internet topic approved by a teacher. All data created, stored or transmitted on school provided technology can and will be monitored. Users, employees and students, have no right to privacy in any such data.

Software, images or other files may be downloaded from the Internet only for use with a school assignment. Such items must be placed in a location specified by each building's Tech Support Specialist and/or Media Specialist.

Users will not access any material that portrays race, religion, creed, national origin, gender, sex, marital status, economic status or disability in an inappropriate, hateful or explicit way.

Users will be courteous and respectful in their messages to others. Fraudulent, harassing, or obscene messages or materials should not be sent, used or stored. If such materials are encountered, the teacher or supervisor should be immediately informed. Harassment is defined as the persistent annoyance of another user, or the interference in any way of another's work.

Student email is permitted in the school setting if staff manages it and the email is directed toward a specific educational purpose or project. Buildings have the discretion of allowing students to access personal email accounts under guidelines developed by the building.

Vandalism will not be tolerated. Vandalism is defined as any malicious attempt to harm, modify or destroy data of another user, the Internet, South Washington County or other networks that are connected to our school networking system. The South Washington County system may not be used for illegal or criminal purposes or for personal profit. Attempts to read another person's electronic mail or other protected files will be subject to discipline according to district policy. Never assume email is private.

For their safety, students will not send any personally identifiable information over the Internet about themselves or others, including but not limited to, home or school address, or phone or credit card numbers, or their full name.

Users will not seek out, modify, use or obtain copies of files, data or passwords belonging to others without permission.

Users will not attempt to damage or degrade the performance of any computer or any part of the computer network system, or change any default settings, or enter any part of the system where specific authorization has not been given.

To avoid unwanted financial obligations, parents, students and staff should be aware that it is possible to purchase goods and services via the Internet. The District is not liable or responsible to pay for any goods or services purchased by users without authorization, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally.

No one may install any software or establish a resource on any computer, or on the District network without the explicit consent of the school's technical support personnel.

Employees in violation of guidelines will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. Students will be subject to discipline up to and including expulsion for violation. Buildings may wish to add other guidelines specific to their needs and the age of their students.

Students and Use of the Internet

The Internet is an important information resource for our staff and students. It is often used as a valuable resource in our curriculum. The Internet has also become an important vehicle for many current electronic magazines and encyclopedia resources that had traditionally been available in a disk or CD format.